April 16 , 2008
From 1968 to 1974 White’s Woods was purchased under Project 70 funds for the purpose of recreation and conservation. In 1995 the White Township Supervisors developed a plan to log White’s Woods. However, the plan was abandoned following public outcry and the discovery that implementation would have violated existing law. Later in 1995, the law (Second Class Township Code 2207) was changed to allow townships to log “township forests” thus generating “continuing township revenue” without consulting the public. In 2007, the Supervisors declared Whites Woods to be a “township forest” and developed a logging plan strikingly similar to the 1995 plan. FWW and numerous community members declared that “recreation and conservation” is not consistent with revenue production by logging, over a thousand community members protested by signing a petition and hundreds of citizens attended an open meeting with the Supervisors to raise objections. The Supervisors countered that the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) supports the logging plan and adopted the plan two days later. After finding that the supposed DCNR “support” was informal and therefore not officially recognized by DCNR, the Supervisors requested another review. DCNR responded by noting Section 2207 code “does not apply” to White’s Woods and thus the entire premise for the plan (that WW is a township forest) was invalid. The Supervisors wrote yet another letter to DCNR asking if the logging plan violates Project 70 restrictions. DCNR responded the “plan is not consistent with the Project 70 Land Acquisition and Borrowing Act in that the amount of timbering it calls for is not consistent with the definitions of recreation and conservation in the Act [and is] excessive.” Thus DCNR has now ruled that both the premise for the timbering plan and the plan itself are not suitable for White’s Woods. FWW continues to urge the Supervisors to abandon this failed plan, establish a dialogue with the community and FWW and develop a valid park management plan. The Supervisors have not responded to our many requests for dialogue beyond urging patience while we await a ruling from DCNR. The ruling has occurred, the time for patience is over, it is now time to move forward to develop a community-based White’s Woods stewardship plan.
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